Tagged: Post impressionism

Today’s podcast was recorded live inside the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France.

You can listen to it by pressing “play” on the above video and watching the slideshow (it’s suggested that you watch/listen in “HD”).

The subject is a series of paintings by Claude Monet and specifically a version called “La Gare Saint-Lazare” (“The Saint-Lazare Station”).

It’s a beautiful painting and differs from my favourite version which is located in London at the National Gallery. The National Gallery version is much darker and quite a lot smaller.

Monet painted 12 in this series and it’s my understanding that 4 still survive today
(However, who really knows!?).

I have located a version in a 1970’s art book which is held in a private collection in the United States and we will take a closer look at this, as best as we can, in a future part of this podcast series.

The most famous, or at least, for me, the most famous and one that I visit at least a few times a month is called “The Gare St-Lazare“, In fact they’re all basically the same station during different seasons and on different days, all with totally different energy, different feel and different aesthetics.

Today we’re visiting the world famous Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France, to take a look at Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Starry night over the Rhone”. It is a very special piece of art because it is totally different in real life, looking at it with your own eyes, than any reproduction or photograph. Van Gogh’s “Starry night over the Rhone” has a spirit and a powerful energy that absorbs the viewer.

Dutch Painter: Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)

Van Gogh was born on the 30th March 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands. He died very young, at the age of only 37 (He’s the guy that cut his ear off!). Vincent van Gogh suffered from mental illness and was actually committed (actually self-admitted) to an asylum. “Starry night over the Rhone” was one of his last paintings before we entered the Asylum and was painted in September 1888. The river Rhone flows through the south of France, through the city of Arles. Van Gogh rented a house a short walk from the river and decided to paint the scene.

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About the author

My name is Anthony King and welcome to my Art Blog! We will be exploring Art and Beautiful Historical things around the world with a focus on London, Berlin, Rome and in Paris, on location. Many Blog posts include an audio/video broadcast. Join me on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date!